The Power of Money

Lots of people have lots of opinions on when kids should get an allowance, and under what conditions. We decided about six months ago to give Lucas $4 per week (one dollar per year of existence) with no strings attached. At about the same time he started doing a few chores (clearing his plate after meals, sweeping under the table after dinner, putting on his own clothes every morning, etc) but the two aren't directly connected.

It took him a couple of months to catch on, but after Friday's trip to Disney on Ice, he convinced me that he's a pretty practical kid. He wanted to look at all the expensive princess trinkets and snacks (for example, cotton candy was $11!) before we went in. He asked how much everything was, then asked if he could have a particular flashy, mostly useless (IMO) toy. I said "Lucas, you may buy anything here with your allowance money you've saved. Anything." He got a little wide-eyed at that, took one more look, and said "let's go find our seats!"

That's my good boy!